Open doors... Our exciting news...

If I am honest I have to admit one of the things I like least in this world is change. Change is hard. Change says something you are doing is going to be different. Change implies loss of comfort. Change is scary. Change means letting go of control. Change means putting everything you know in God’s hands- and trusting He has a plan.

Our family has been through much change this past year- and through it we have experienced growth that would have never been possible otherwise.

And yet God is not done.

Through a series of events the Lord began to open some doors BIG,WIDE and OBVIOUS in a way that only He could do.

When a door is opened you have two choices- walk through it or close it... and miss out on what the Lord had planned...

When the Lord first called us onto the mission field He placed a burning passion in our hearts for the least, the lost, the last and the lowest in our hearts. This requires faith in a God who operates from a different set of values that are sometimes difficult to measure from human standards. We asked the Lord to use our lives in a mighty way, for a cause greater than ourselves. And so we will move out of the way and let Him have His way in us… even when we cannot see where the road ahead will lead.

This blog post has been one of the most difficult I have ever written... how do you begin to put into words something that the Lord has been working on since before you even understood what He was up to?

We have been given the opportunity to extend our ministry in a way we only dreamed could be possible. This June our family will be leaving Eagles Nest to begin a new ministry called Village Of Hope in San Lucas Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Village of Hope is an initiative of Lifesong for Orphans and a partner of Project Hopeful in conjunction with Manna Worldwide. We could not be more honored and thrilled to be serving under the leadership of these well-respected, Godly organizations. Yet God took it a step further and blessed us with another amazing missionary couple The Uchereks to join us in this endeavor. We could not be more blessed.

The vision of Village of Hope is to provide family, faith and a future to the least of these- to give them a place where HOPE can enter their world. We will do this by providing holistic orphan care to special needs orphans, primarily focused on those living with HIV/AIDS in a family style setting. Each family style unit will consist of house parents as well as 6-8 children in the home. Our hope is to create a family unit as God intended- a family to provide life- long support as well as teach the children to have life values. The goal is to avoid institutional living and prevent children from being thrown out on the streets when they are 18. We will do this by equipping them with family- as well as life skills that meet their physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational care. Because adoptions are closed in Guatemala there is little hope of the children ever begin adopted into families of their own. One part of our vision is to develop relationship in the Guatemalan Evangelical churches, to come along side of them, educating them on God’s heart for the orphan, HIV/AIDS, as well as adoption.
 

We have learned so much from serving here at Eagles Nest. We have grown to loved the workers, the people in the community and especially the children we have come to think of as our own. Now we find ourselves in a place trying to figure out how to let go... We treasure every last hug, every last giggle and we cherish the memories of the day Jen got her hearing aids and heard clearly for the first time, the day I first held 10 day old Abi in my arms, the day Kevin was reunited with his siblings and the day Lizzy took her first steps. We will tuck those precious memories away in the corner of our hearts and pray we never forget a single moment...

Yet as hard as it is to let go we look ahead to the future, to the children who need to know He is Lord, the children who need a chance and who need to know HOPE is in the Lord. And so it is, we will once again say “yes Lord” use us in the way you see fit and we take that first step forward.

We fully admit starting from ground zero at Village of Hope is scary and yet at the same time exciting! Because it’s going to take a village- we cannot wait to see who God sends to partner with us. We cannot wait to see who else says 'YES LORD'. So we invite you to join us and become a part of what He is doing here in Guatemala. We challenge you to really pray and ask the Lord what part He may have you play. We are in need of state side reps who will advocate for Village of Hope, sharing the stories of children, be a voice to the voiceless, and making the needs known. We are in need of prayer partners, financial partners and people who are who are willing to do something more than just sit on the sidelines for the Kingdom of God. We are in need of The Church. So we encourage you to ask God what part He may have you play. We invite you to come, to see, to visit, to experience, and to become as invested in the lives of these orphans – as He is.:)

If you would like to know how you can be a part of Village of Hope please feel free to contact us at: amy@lifesongfororphans.org